Burial caskets often include a decorative lid underside, or casket top interior, for purposes of viewing. In particular, during the viewing period, the casket lid is often opened to permit viewing of the deceased. The lid may fully open, or partially open over the top portion of the body. While open, the casket top interior is prominently displayed. It is thus desirable for the casket top interior, or at least the portion that opens for the viewing, to be aesthetically pleasing.
To this end, the casket industry has widely employed certain decorative mechanisms in casket top interior design. One common casket top interior design includes rolls and a center panel. Rolls are shaped design features that extend inward from each edge of the casket top to form a picture frame effect. The center panel is disposed within the casket top such that the center panel is substantially bordered by the rolls. Both the center panel and rolls are typically cloth covered and hide the otherwise functional and non-aesthetic underside of the metal or wood casket.
Because of the prominent nature of the casket top interior during the viewing, a desirable feature offered by casket manufacturers are center panels having select ornamental designs. The center panel may include religious symbols, poetry, or prayer material deemed appropriate for the deceased. Such designs are typically embroidered or otherwise affixed to fabric, which is then glued or stapled to the center board. Preferably, the center panels are interchangeable such that casket consumers can select a personalized decorative center panel for installation into one of a number of standard casket models. In any event, most center panels are constructed of a semi-rigid or rigid base panel and a fabric covering.
A drawback to the use in such center panels is that undesirably labor-intensive manufacturing methods are currently employed to affix the fabric, decorative or otherwise, to the panel structure. Center panels are typically constructed by stretching fabric over a corrugated paper base and stapling the fabric thereto. Such construction is undesirably labor intensive because the fabric must be centered and tightly held around the paper base and stapled in place simultaneously. Such an operation requires considerable effort because the fabric must be stapled on the opposite side of the panel from the ornamental design for aesthetic reasons. Accordingly, the fabric must be held taught and steady in perfect alignment on one side of the center panel and stapled (or glued) on the other side. Not only is such a method labor intensive, but the difficulties in coordinating the alignment of the design and the stapling from the opposite side often leads to a nonconforming and unusable final product.
A need exists, therefore, for a center panel design having reduced difficulty and reduced labor effort in manufacturing.